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Chapter 1

“Ready?” a voice whispers next to me.

I nod tensely. The night was warm, the town was asleep. The black sky contained a few bright stars and a huge milky white moon. A white carriage pulled by two horses passes by. Okay… Let’s do this. I inched nearer to the edge of the rooftop that I was on and peered down. The carriage was making it’s way down the cobblestone street. Suddenly, a small figure runs out from an alley across the street and throws a rock at the ground in front of the back carriage wheels. As the carriage bumped over the rock, the figure threw itself to the ground and cried out in pain.

The driver pulled the horses to a stop and he, along with the couple that crawled out of the transportation, went back to see what they had “hit”.

“Okay, go,” the voice whispers again.

I leap off of the roof and land in a hay pile. My hooded companion did so as well. Shaking off the fall, I cautiously made my way towards the open doors of the carriage. The figure from before was still groaning in pain, his young voice calling out for his mom. Good job. Keep going, Lui, I thought as I looked into the carriage.

A few pouches lay on the comfy seats. I grab both of them and open them to see gold and jewels inside. Score! I put both pouches in my pocket and give a thumbs up signal to my partner, who was acting as lookout.

“Good, come on,” he and I quickly walk into an alley and climbed up the wall to the roof.

I walked over to the edge of the roof and caught the eye of the figure in pain. I give the thumbs up, which he replies with a sly wink. I whistle across the street, sounding like a night bird. A man appears from the alley and hurriedly walks over to the “boy” in pain. After exchanging a few words with the couple and carriage driver, the man picks up the small frame of the boy and carries him off.

Knowing that the job was done, me and my friend walk across the roof and jump down to the opposite street. I could feel myself try to grin, but I forced it away. Calm down, I tell myself. Taking a familiar path, my companion and I walked down the cobblestone road until we reached Eat My Tavern. My partner opened the door and the sound of drunken chatter and the smell of beer rushed out to greet us.

I step into the tavern, pulling my black hood down to let my black braided hair trail down my shoulder. My companion did it as well, pulling down his hood to reveal his brown eyes and ebony black hair. The pub was filled with many people, either drinking, eating, or singing a drunk ballad.

“Raven! Vanoss!” the heavy weighted owner of the tavern called us over.

“Hey, Diction. How are you?” I take a seat as I greet the bearded man.

“Fine. Just fine,” he grew serious and leaned in closer, “I assume tonight was a success?” he spoke in a low tone.

“Yes,” I reply, “We just-”

Vanoss elbowed me, cutting off my words. He flicked his gaze to the left, where a couple of knights were sitting. One was tall, with black curly hair who held a helmet marked with the letter M to his side. The other one wasn’t as tall, but he did have brown curly hair and a slight beard. His helmet was marked with viking horns. Both men were laughing, swinging their drinks to a toast.

Diction noticed them too. “We’ll talk later,” he straightened and walked off to attend to some orders.

“We should get back. The guys will be wondering where we are,” Vanoss said.

I nod in reply and stand up. Before we could take a step, the door to the tavern whipped

open. A man in armor with a gray and white husky at his side strides in. The man was tall, with dark hair and a dark beard. I recognized him as Commander GassyMexican. He swept his eyes across the room until they landed on the drunken soldiers.